If you have ever heard of Linux, then you probably know of Ubuntu. In fact, Ubuntu has become the most popular Linux distro (version). It’s initial release was in October of 2004 and in October of 2012, 12.10 Quantal Quetzal was released as the most recent stable build of Ubuntu. Now, with the personal computer market heading into handheld, Ubuntu is coming to retail in Q4 of 2013.

This news, written along Ubuntu’s website, was backed up by Mark Shuttleworth, Founder of Canonical and Ubuntu, when he stated that “smartphones running the open source Ubuntu operating system will be available to customers beginning in October 2013″.

Ubuntu’s main goal is to create one platform for phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, the cloud, and your “supercomputer”. Now that Ubuntu TV was announced at CES 2013, Ubuntu for phones and Ubuntu for Android are the next steps for Mark and his companies.

Developers will be able to get their hands on Ubuntu in February with a version that was built for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. All in all, the entire platform looks very clean and extremely intuitive. If Ubuntu Phone can land on good hardware, it may have a chance at competing with Android and iOS. Are you looking to forward to the Ubuntu Phone launch? Will you be buying an Ubuntu phone when it comes out? Let us know in the comments below.

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The post Ubuntu Phone to be Launched in October 2013 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

In the last several months there have been many rumors about the idea of Facebook possibly releasing a cell phone.  Despite the rumors, Mark Zuckerberg has adamantly denied on two separate occasions, in July and in September, that the idea of a Facebook phone is totally not true.  Now on Tuesday January 15th, Facebook has scheduled a press event.  So the question is, what is the topic of this event?

Is Facebook going to reveal a new phone to the world, or maybe unveiling a type of Facebook OS for mobile phones?  Using modified versions of existing OS’s is something that has been done in the past.  For instance Kindle Fire products have a modified Android OS running on their tablets, so the possibility of Facebook doing something similar is a real possibility.

In the past, Facebook did partner up with HTC to release a “Facebook” version of a mobile phone with dedicated Facebook buttons and better Facebook integration.  The phone however had fairly mixed reviews.  So it makes you wonder if they scrapped the idea, or maybe learned from some mistakes to perfect a second attempt.  We can speculate all day, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to finally get some real answers.

While the Facebook phone rumor continues to be circulated, based on the denials and lack of strong evidence to suggest it is coming— odds are that this press conference is probably about something else, though. Still IF Facebook made a special phone (maybe with HTC as a partner?), would you buy one?

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The post Possible Facebook Phone To Be Announced Tomorrow? [Rumor] appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Monster Galaxy is a game that was previously released on Facebook and has been ported over to touch screen devices. The game itself should remind you of Pokémon, gameplay is also similar.  It starts by asking you to choose your character, or in this case, tamer, as the game has called it.  Just like Pokémon, there is only a choice between male or female, and other than that customization options are unapparent. You’ll then be taken to choose your first Moga, a creature that you’ll be relying on to fight the battles in the game. There are three to choose from in the beginning, but shockingly only the first one is free, the other two cost up to $5 in real cash. Galaxy Monster seems to be asking for our wallets already, and we haven’t even started playing the game yet.

Freemium content aside, the gameplay itself isn’t too bad. There is a story around your character and the Moga’s that inhabit the world, which helps to add a sense of purpose to the game. You’ll travel from location to location by tapping areas on the screen, and then entering battle.

In a battle, gameplay is simple. You have a bar at the top that moves up and down, and the aim is to tap the screen at the max position, inflicting the most damage on your opponent. Your opponents attack damage is determined by its zodiac sign and level. If you’re a Pokémon fan, you’ll understand that Zodiacs work in a similar way to attack types; different Zodiacs have different weaknesses and strengths towards other Zodiacs, and each Zodiac type also has their own devastating move which can inflict a ton of damage if executed on the correct enemy. The gameplay is extremely limited and lacks action, but the use of Zodiacs and the attack bar allow the player to be a little more involved.

Unlike Pokémon, you won’t really move in a world, instead you’ll click on instances on a world map as you come closer to your ultimate goal; capturing all 137 Moga.

There are different world maps which are unlocked throughout the game, and each world has a different set of Mogas, meaning to unlock them all, you’ll have to explore the game thoroughly.

If you’re not a fan of freemium heavy games, Monster Galaxy may be something you want to avoid. Practically every Moga can be bought with real cash, and the game uses an annoying energy system most likely derived from many of the other facebook games on the internet.

The energy system isn’t too annoying if you’ve got time to do other things, but what really stretches is it too far is that the further you progress through the game, the more energy battles will cost. And with no clear way of boosting your total energy, this game seems entirely reliant on the freemium purchases to avoid a stress-free experience.

Graphics and Audio

It’s a shame the freemium content has been so badly implemented, because the game is very appealing. The graphics for both the characters and Moga in-game are innovative, taking inspiration from life to create fascinating creatures. The game is very kid-friendly, and the colors are bright and contrast is great. This is certainly one of the kiddie games you’d be embarrassed to be caught playing on a weekend indoors.

Summary

Pros:

• Innovative, original graphics
• Although somewhat poorly scripted, the game does have a story
• Gameplay is simple, yet involving
• Many areas and Moga to unlock

Cons:

• Freemium options are outrageous
• Story can seem a little unbelievable at times
• Aimed for younger audience
• No real involvement outside of battles

The post App Review: Monster Galaxy for Android appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

You know those fancy Tokyo Flash watches that are so advanced and futuristic you’ll be the only one capable of telling the time on it after you study the manual?  Well, they do look awesome, and their actually not that hard to use. So we’ve teamed up with Tokyo Flash to offer our readers this great contest.  One winner will be selected who can chose any watch they wish from the Tokyo Flash website.  There’s no limit on price, so you can choose their most expensive model, or the one that will rock it on your wrist.  

Instructions: All you have to do is like this post (Click “Like” just below the title), jump over to our Facebook post and tell us in the comments which watch you would like!  It’s that easy.  * Fineprint below.

* Open to everyone in every country in the world!  One winner will be chosen from the Facebook comments for this post on August 31, 2012.  The winner has 72 hours to respond providing shipping address and choice of watch.

The post Contest: Win Any Tokyo Flash Watch You Like! appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The new year is coming up in a few hours, maybe it’s already past for some of you. But Mobile Magazine is excited to release our top 10 stories of the year because well, you never know what can happen. What was really hot? What caught everyone’s interest? What topped the charts? Well, no need to wonder any longer as we have revealed the top 10 stories of the year 2011.

It’s clear that the Apple iPhone, particularly the iPhone 5, was a hot topic this past year.  As was that ancient Windows Mobile 6.5 for some strange reason.  Most interesting of all was the $99 college note slate.  Don’t we all wish we had that last semester?  Maybe we can in 2012, as with the iPhone 5.

Top 10 Stories of 2011

1. $99 NoteSlate may become the new college notebook
2. 300 Mouse Traps + 600 Ping Pong Balls = Nuclear Chain Reaction
3. Download Windows Mobile 6.5 Beta for Free
4. Rumor: Bigger iPhone 5 + QWERTY Keyboard and iPhone Nano Phone
5. REVIEW: BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300
6. AT&T iPhone 4S Unlock With No Software, No Hardware, No Jailbreak (Video)
7. Dev Teams Race Toward Untethered Jailbreak For Apple iOS 5 Devices
8. iOS 5 Untethered Jailbreak “near ready” Demo Video
9. REVIEW: Samsung NP-N145 Plus Netbook PC
10. Apple iPhone 5 delayed until late October, leaked photos show new design



The post Mobile Magazine’s Top 10 Stories Of 2011 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Google announced that it is now possible for websites that are optimized for mobile to increase their ad quality. Google explained that they began to limit ad serving on cell phones last year on pages that contained Flash-heavy content in the name of better browsing quality. The loading times of flash-heavy pages can consume a great amount of data, so the quality of the page may not be the same as to when a user accesses that page using a computer.

Maybe Google has finally realized that the browsing experience would be more exciting if we could access some of those special pages that rely heavily on Flash. So they have considered the websites’ mobile optimization as an addition to raise the quality for AdWords campaigns that drive mobile traffic.

This big step will result in better performance of mobile optimized pages in AdWords and will also help the websites garner more readers or visitors in their sites. The basic guidelines concerning landing page quality still remains applicable across desktop and mobile devices but this new feature will only cover AdWords on mobile gadgets.

Simple layout, mobile features, touch features, site navigability, content prioritization, landing page load time and minimal flash used to be the only factors considered by Good on terms of page quality on mobile devices.
Since poor mobile web experience can influence a consumer’s opinion in a negative way, companies are doing everything they can to improve their websites. In a recent survey, more than sixty percent of users who had some problems accessing websites on their phones rarely visited again.

Of course, some skeptics think that Google will never release something that will not benefit it, and they may be right. The company promotes its own mobile site creator to the site owners and publishers who are planning to create simple websites for mobile phones. Since the holidays are fast approaching, more and more users will be relying on their smartphones to find items and purchase them, so online business owners might want to have their sites suitable for Google’s page guidelines.

The post Google says mobile optimized sites will allow better performance in AdWords appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Gmail has been preferred by more and more users because of its large memory for storage and convenience when it comes to e-mails and other transactions. You might also have more than one Gmail account for a variety of purposes. The problem with using too many accounts is that you need to log out from one Gmail account to be able to use the other accounts, and this process can be inconvenient and time-consuming.

Well, Google has great news for for those who have multiple Gmail accounts! You will no longer have to undergo some hassles when using Gmail with your mobile phone because the site now has a support system for multiple sign-ins. This means that you will never perform the cycle of logging in and out just to check your other e-mail accounts because Gmail will allow you to use several accounts simultaneously! Isn’t that amazing?

About the Multiple Sign-In

Here are the steps to make your phone suitable for multiple sign-ins. Click on the account switcher at the bottommost part of the thread list and click “Sign into another account”. If you want to switch between accounts, you can select the desired one from the Accounts menu.

On Mobile-specific Signature

We know that autocorrect and other mobile spell-checks can be frustrating when you’re typing on the go. Let your friends know that you are responding via your mobile phone with a mobile signature, which you can create by pressing the settings icon. You need to select your preferred signature before checking the activation box. In the event that you want to disable the signature, you can do so by removing the check on the box.

The amazing Auto-Responder

Do you usually forget to set the auto-reply in Gmail before you go on a vacation somewhere? Well, there is no need to worry about that because now, you can set the auto-reply feature using your cell phone. Choose the start and end date, then write your message. It is similar to using the desktop or laptop, so you won’t have a difficult time doing this.

URLs are also updated as part of the multiple sign-in support to enable each Gmail account to have a separate bookmark. If you have already bookmarked Gmail for Mobile on your phone, update it now. Go to the website in order to make use of all the new features.

The post Gmail Mobile Now Supports Multiple Sign-ins appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

News, leaks and contradicting rumors about the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S are flying all over the Internet, which is causing some major head spins. To make your mind more confused, analyst Mark Moskowitz from J.P. Morgan stated that there will be two new iPhones to be released this year, the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4-plus. I bet you will be browsing the net for some more information regarding that.

Apple’s iPhone 4-plus is planned to be launched in emerging markets like China, according to Moskowitz. The phone will have some minor improvements and a mid-ranged price, but some experts believe that Moskowitz could possibly be talking about the iPhone 4S. iPhone 4-plus and iPhone 4S have been used interchangeably because neither names are official yet. In this context, you get confused with all the rumors and the names, so what more is to come?

Moskowitz also added that while iPhone 5 will use the A5 processor which can also be found in the iPad 2, larger display and an increased RAM, the phone’s design will not be totally changed.

Some more rumors tell us that the iPhone 4S White will be released in addition to the already familiar handful of Apple phones. The launch date of the white version of the next iPhone cannot be determined as of the moment because too many bits and news are already flooding our inboxes and newsfeeds.

Let us just wait for further developments regarding these news bits.

The post Will iPhone 5 be accompanied by iPhone 4 Plus? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if you had Beyonce’s smooth and sexy voice or Axl Rose’s cool and powerful vocals to tell you directions as you bike down the street? Experts and scientists believe that this could be an effective way to ensure that you will never get lost and distracted by relying on plain visual navigation guides. Since navigation by visuals can distract you from the road ahead, it can be a dangerous device.

Now a research team based in the Netherlands has reported positive and promising results from an audio-only navigation system which relies on an Android smartphone connected to a pair of headphones to potentially help cyclists overcome the issue of visual navigation devices. The audio GPS guides users towards the target location by using music which is artificially shifted to the left or right in order to tell directions. This could also improve safety for airplanes, cars and other situations.

The team employs different tomes to represent different objects and waypoints, claiming that the cyclist would only need simple directional prompts. The 3D-audio system utilizes the individual’s ability to detect a sound source. When you hear a sound, your brain calculates the difference in sounds in order to approximate the distance and direction. At present, the prototype developed by the researcher only works for predetermined locations. But the team is busy developing the audio navigation into a full application to support navigation to any location. Just be sure the music doesn’t completely drown out traffic; you need to hear honking and what’s going on around you after all.

The post Guiding Cyclists with a Musical GPS appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

If you’re a fan of Amazon.com, you might be interested to know that the internet behemoth is considering launching a subscription service that resembles Netflix, but for digital books. As you can guess, customers would pay an annual fee to access a library of e-books. The e-book library is likely to be lumped in with Amazon Prime services.

Although the details are still vague and ambiguous, reports by the Wall Street Journal say that Amazon has already started talks with book publishers, and you guessed it, publishers are worried. The publishers are concerned that the latest titles might be excluded, kind of like how Netflix is currently operating.

Others are hesitant to get in on the action because they fear that by doing so, they would diminish the value of individual books. Reports claim that as of this moment, it is still unclear whether any of the publishers have already given in to Amazon’s proposal.

Well, all we can do is wait and see.

The post Amazon might build a Netflix-style store for e-books appeared first on Mobile Magazine.